We had two peahens hatch out five babies last spring. However, two birds disappeared over the winter. Now this spring all the birds look alike so we do not know if the two that disappeared were young ones are the older hens. Can we sex them somehow and find out or do we just wait and see if any of them lay this spring? Also how can you sex young birds as they all look alike except that some do not have the "fan" of feathers on top of their head- is that significant? Is it also true that both male and females are not mature until the age of two years? Enough questions,I await a reply. Thanks.

peafowl are sexable by the appearance of the legs. the male leg is mor cylindrical, and long ine the shank. feet are bigger. thereris a "break"betweenthe juction of foot and leg in males but only a curve in females. males have a really masculine head as per pheasants. this goes much under the category of "sexing chicks by hoky methods at hatch'- so see those posts and read past the part where 'it cant be done!" in second year- males get a wispy fringe on the sides of the 'tail' (really the back ) a brown fiber that hangs. unmistakable. we have a 2 year old 'breeder' but in practice- a bird 3 years old (gets his big tail) is a real breeder. hens are ready in their second summer and will lay a few eggs usually at least 5.

Thanks Incubator; you are a virtual encyclopaedia of information. Three of our birds have the "fan" of feathers on top of their head and two are bare headed. Has this any significance as to their sex? And yes, our two mature females each laid 5 eggs last year with a 100% hatch. And yes, the mature male turns three this spring and he has developed a tail of spectacular length and brilliance and is in constant display now.

I bought a couple of babies two years ago and subsequent research yeilded that the males can be told apart from the females at an early age by the color of their flight feathers. the males will have reddish brown flight feathers, the hens will habe the same grey coloring as on the rest of their body. what kind do you have? India Blues or?

"you are a virtual encyclopaedia of information" yeah i am the cliff notes versionoh yeah you are right about there being an early color difference between male and female- in vaarieties with the mature blue neck- the male chicks get a teal(blue/green ) shine in the neck feathers ( look at necks back) and the females a very dull true green

The crest has nothing to do with sexing. What 'color' are they? As in Indian blue, blackshoulder, etc?

By 6 months of age, females already look exactly like any adult female of their color. No difference.

Males by then look different but do not yet look like mature adult males. Blue males have the same barring(basically black stripes on a light brown/tan background) on their wings as the adults do. Their necks also are different- they have lots of blue or green or a vague dark color that more or less give their necks a solid colored appearence.

If your youngsters at this point really are are carbon copies their mothers, they are all females. Males look different enough if you really try to compare.

Peafowls are fully mature at three years, but many are capable of breeding during their second year. The males get their 'full plumage' in their third year.

Thank you all for the replies.I wish I would have ask along time ago but I often feel intimidated, being an amateur chicken raiser, by the "Experts"on The COOP who indirectly, and sometimes directly tell us that we ask stupid questions. We were told that our peafowl are Blackshoulders .They have beautiful blue fluorescent feathers on their necks and in their tail feathers. (It looks like we have all females, except one, according to you folks so thanks alot.).

blue on the babies is a bad sign. any speck of blue on the neck is a male thing. not very familiar with black shoulder babiesw but know that the males have a darker thing going on. the belly spots are blacker and thick. it sounds like males- if only for the fact that you lost a couple . rarely did we ever get a clutch of mostly females. head sexed- look atthe white stripe near eye- it will be wider and not as straight as the males. the males have a wedge shape slopy head. if some bird has a fan on top- that measn it is dominant and the fanless ones are weak, doesnt mean male or female. the female has prominent eyelids (bedroom eyes) and the males eyes are large and bold (eagle eyes) can yo post pictures of whole flock together? leg length is usually enoug to tell, but ttheere is a new strain of blue indie that has a longer leg than the common strain- we have one of thes e and he throws the long leg. these birds are like on stilts

Thanks Incubator. I am not modern enough to send pictures from my old computor. I spent all afternoon studying our peafowl and see them in a new light. Thanks again to everyone who gave me information.P.S. I agree fully with you that the experts are needed(and did not mean to infer anything else) ,as I have learnt mega from them. I only want to feel part of the Family. By watching new posts, it seems apparent to me that when people first join The COOP, they do so because they have some basic questions that have been answered many times before but they don't realize it because they just "got here", hence the repetitions.

Here's a picture of a 4 month old male peachick. His mother is a black shoulder, father is India Blue. This chick's color is consistant for India Blue:

Here's a peahen chick at the same age with the same parents. Again, she looks like an India Blue.

Black shoulder peahens look very different. They are mottled white and brown. You can go to my web page to see what the black shoulder peahens look like to compare to yours. peacock pictures In order for a chick to LOOK like a Black shoulder, it has to get that color gene from both parents. Our India Blue male does not carry black shoulder so all our chicks look like India Blue. If our chicks were bred to another black shoulder, then THEIR offspring would look like Black shoulder. I hope this helps!

We live outside of Seattle. One of our hens has been sitting on 3 eggs for about 2 weeks now, 1 is just in the process of laying and has layed 2 eggs so far. You are welcome! The hen chicks DO have color on their necks, but it was much different as you can see from the males.

I have some wild peacocks/peahens in the neighborhood - we are trying to determine if they are male or female - We know one for sure is a male but the two new ones we are not sure - can someone help? I have pictures but don't know how to add them here.

On the left is a male, on the right is a female. Females only have green color on necks, young boys can have both blue and green. Plus these are old enough for the boys to show distinct barring all over his wings and back while the girls rapidly lose them, becoming solid colored over the same areas(mud brown).

It takes the males three years to attain full plumage. The male in picture is a year old or less. Next year, his neck and chest will be more evenly colored, how much green he will have on back and tail will be a total guess, it varies wildly between two year old boys.

I am not a Peacock breeders, but love them. Did you see the pictures on the earlier post? Can't see the head of your first pictured bird, could be a female, if she is the same age as the other? The second one is obviously a male--and both are lovely birds......CJR